Japan may accelerate missile defense upgrades in wake of N Korean tests

I want to see more air raid shelters and nuclear shelters in my city. In reality, there is none of them in Japan.

American economy secured.

Japan should collaborate with its close strategic partners to develop most modern ballistic missile system with state of art technology & innovative features to strengthen peace and stability in the region, which is the need of the hour at the present moment.

Good comments above, seeing things from both sides.

DPRK has often threatened to turn Tokyo into a sea of flames, but I cannot recall Japan ever threatening their lands in any way at all, certainly not in the last half century.

In this case I am afraid I would have to agree that Japan needs to be able to shoot down any such threatened attack.

Good for Japan!

An offense vs defense race where NK is uping their offense while Japan is building up her defense.

Neither can say who will win without actually shooting in which if the missile passes Japan's defense Japan wins and if Japan is able to shoot down all missiles Japan wins.

Basically NK has no intentions of shooting those missiles against another nation and are just showcasing to other nations that would be interested in acquiring the technology.

"Tokyo and Pyongyang have been locked in an arms race for two decades after North Korea fired a missile over Japan in 1998."

What a ridiculous statement. One country has been advancing production of a nuclear weapon and a ballistic missile system to deliver it. The other has a constitutional constraint prohibiting the possession of offensive weaponry. Whatkind of "race" is this?

The block ⅡAs can be loaded on to the Kongo class and Atago class anytime once they had acquired them. For THAAD missiles it may take time and much more developing a base of operation for AEGIS on shores if they ever start considering this version.

Japan has 6 ABM capable ships and another 2 will be coming online by 2020 making the fleet into 8. One ship armed with block ⅡA can cover the entire nation so it's not like Japan needs more.